Home built for South Bend family in need hit by thieves

November 13, 2009|By DUSTIN GROVE WSBT-TV Reporter

SOUTH BEND ? It has been at least a decade since Randolph and Katherine McKenzie have enjoyed Christmas in a home they could call their own. Â Â “We bounced around, slept on peoples' floors, in basements, on couches,” they recalled.

It was a life of homelessness and addiction, but they'd had enough. So nearly eighteen months ago, they decided to start over with help from Hope Ministries in South Bend. Today, Randolph has a steady job, Katherine just became a certified preschool teacher, and they are preparing to move into their own home thanks to Hope Ministries and Harris Prairie Church of Christ in Granger.

“This is God's house, and he's blessed us so much and I'm so grateful,” Katherine said as she walked through the home on Catalpa Street. Â Hope donated the dilapidated house to Harris Prairie earlier this year. Their congregation was looking for a Christmas mission project. Minister Bob Wiley said they decided to rehabilitate the home to a deserving family. Work began over the summer. Â Â “We want it to be the cornerstone of this neighborhood, so people can say there are people out there that want to help make our community a better place,” said Wiley. Â Â Wiley estimated more than 230 people have taken part in the renovation project, and they're putting the final touches on it just in time for the McKenzie's to move in December 19. But earlier this week, when Wiley arrived to continue work on the house, he noticed something missing. Â Â “I looked down and saw a bunch of holes in the ground,” he said.

Someone had dug up 17 landscaping plants out of the yard – the most expensive shrubs that had been planted just days before. Â Â “It's sad to think someone would want to steal this,” said Wiley. Â Â “I looked and saw the holes,” recalled Katherine, “I hadn't cried sad tears in a long time.” Â Â While the theft was disappointing, neither congregation members nor the McKenzie's are discouraged. Â Â “It's just a bump in the road,” said Wiley. “It's just something that's happened, and we're going to overcome it and it's not going to stop us.” Â Â “They can be replaced,” said Katherine. “This is God's house. And He's blessed us so much and I'm just so grateful.”